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Odell Great Wood
Odell Great Wood is an ancient woodland and biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Odell in Bedfordshire. Located around the centre of the parish of Odell, the site was described by Natural England as "in many respects the best example in Bedfordshire" of wet ash-maple woodland, and in historical sources as "the noblest wood in this county". Being one of the largest of Bedfordshire's ancient woodlands, the wood hosts a wide variety of flora and fauna in its ash, oak and hazel coppice habitat. History What is now Odell Great Wood was once just a small part of a much larger forest. It was a source of employment for woodsmen that reached The Fens. Sheep also grazed in a large sheep-wold, that was enclosed in 1776, and sheep still graze in adjoining meadows today along with game birds being reared in wired compounds inside Odell Great Wood. A 1765 map by Thomas Jefferys shows formal drives through Odell Great Wood, arranged on the design of the wheel. In 1844, Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council was abolished in 2009. Bedfordshire is bordered by Cambridgeshire to the east and north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east and south. It is the fourteenth most densely populated county of England, with over half the population of the county living in the two largest built-up areas: Luton (258,018) and Bedford (106,940). The highest elevation point is on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns. History The first recorded use of the name in 1011 was "Bedanfordscir," meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford" (river crossing). Bedfordshire was historically divided into nine hundreds: Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redbornestoke, S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Game Birds
Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often reared by humans for their meat and eggs, or hunted as game birds. The order contains about 290 species, inhabiting every continent except Antarctica, and divided into five families: Phasianidae (including chicken, quail, partridges, pheasants, turkeys, peafowl (peacocks) and grouse), Odontophoridae (New World quail), Numididae (guinea fowl), Cracidae (including chachalacas and curassows), and Megapodiidae (incubator birds like malleefowl and brush-turkeys). They adapt to most environments except for innermost deserts and perpetual ice. Many gallinaceous species are skilled runners and escape predators by running rather than flying. Males of most species are more colorful than the females, with often elaborate courtship behaviors t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narcissus Pseudonarcissus
''Narcissus pseudonarcissus'' (commonly known as wild daffodil or Lent lily) (Welsh: Cennin Pedr) is a perennial flowering plant. This species has pale yellow tepals, with a darker central trumpet. The long, narrow leaves are slightly greyish green in colour and rise from the base of the stem. The plant grows from a bulb. The flowers produce seeds, which when germinated, take five to seven years to produce a flowering plant. (Sexual seed reproduction mixes the traits of both parent flowers, so if garden hybrid cultivars are planted close to wild populations of ''Narcissus pseudonarcissus'', there is a danger that the new seedlings, having hybrid vigour, could out-compete the wild plants.) Distribution The species is native to Western Europe from Spain and Portugal east to Germany and north to England and Wales. It is commonly grown in gardens and populations have become established in the Balkans, Australia, New Zealand, the Caucasus, Madeira, British Columbia, Ontario, Newf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paris Quadrifolia
''Paris quadrifolia'', the herb Paris or true lover's knot, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It occurs in temperate and cool areas throughout Eurasia, from Spain to Yakutia, and from Iceland to Mongolia. It prefers calcareous soils and lives in damp and shady places, especially old established woods and stream banks. ''P. quadrifolia'' is in decline in Europe due to loss of habitat. In Iceland, for example, it is on the red list. Characteristics ''P. quadrifolia'' is a perennial herbaceous plant that is tall. It may have 3–8 leaves but typically there are four leaves arranged as opposing pairs. The flowers are wispy and inconspicuous. The plant flowers during the months of June and July. It has a solitary flower with four narrow greenish filiform (threadlike) petals, four green petaloid sepals, eight golden yellow stamens, and a round purple to red ovary. The flower is borne above a single whorl of four leaves. Each plant produces ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Oolite
The Great Oolite Group is a Middle Jurassic stratigraphic unit that outcrops in southern England. It consists of a complex set of marine deposits primarily mudstone and bioclastic ooidal and fine grained limestone, deposited in nearshore to shelf settings. It is exposed at the surface as a variably thick belt extending roughly NE-SW from the coast of Dorset up to the Humber. It is also present at depth in the Weald and Wessex Basins, as well as offshore. Several of the constituent formations, notably the Taynton Limestone Formation and the Forest Marble Formation are notable for their fossil content, including those of dinosaurs and pterosaurs and some of the earliest mammals. Paleofauna * '' Cardiodon rugulosus'' * ''Cetiosaurus oxoniensis'' * '' Eoplophysis vetustus'' (stegosaurid indet) * ''Megalosaurus bucklandii'' * ''Proceratosaurus bradleyi'' * '' Seldsienean megistorhynchus'' See also * List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations ** List of stratigraphic units with f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boulder Clay
Boulder clay is an unsorted agglomeration of clastic sediment that is unstratified and structureless and contains gravel of various sizes, shapes, and compositions distributed at random in a fine-grained matrix. The fine-grained matrix consists of stiff, hard, pulverized clay or rock flour. Boulder clay is also know as either known as drift clay; till; unstratified drift, geschiebelehm (German); argile á blocaux (French); and keileem (Dutch).Charlesworth, J. K., 1957. ''Chap 18, Boulder Clay''. In ''The Quaternary Era, with Special Reference to its Glaciation''. v. 1, London, United Kingdom, Edward Arnold, p. 376-388.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A. Jackson, eds. (2005) ''Glossary of Geology'' (5th ed.). Alexandria, Virginia, American Geological Institute. 779 pp. The term ''boulder clay'' is infreqently used for gravelly sedimentary deposits of nonglacial origin. These deposits include submarine slump and slide deposits along continental margins,Reineck, H.E. and Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acer Campestre
''Acer campestre'', known as the field maple, is a flowering plant species in the family Sapindaceae. It is native to much of continental Europe, Britain, southwest Asia from Turkey to the Caucasus, and north Africa in the Atlas Mountains. It has been widely planted, and is introduced outside its native range in Europe and areas of USA and Western Australia with suitable climate. Description It is a deciduous tree reaching tall, with a trunk up to in diameter, with finely fissured, often somewhat corky bark. The shoots are brown, with dark brown winter buds. The leaves are in opposite pairs, long (including the petiole) and broad, with five blunt, rounded lobes with a smooth margin. Usually monoecious, the flowers are produced in spring at the same time as the leaves open, yellow-green, in erect clusters across, and are insect-pollinated. The fruit is a samara with two winged achenes aligned at 180°, each achene is wide, flat, with a wing. The two varieties, not accept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cornus Sanguinea
''Cornus sanguinea'', the common dogwood or bloody dogwood, is a species of dogwood native to most of Europe and western Asia, from England and central Scotland east to the Caspian Sea. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant. Description It is a medium to large deciduous shrub, growing tall, with dark greenish-brown branches and twigs. The leaves are opposite, long and broad, with an ovate to oblong shape and an entire margin; they are green above, slightly paler below, and rough with short stiff pubescence. The hermaphrodite flowers are small, diameter, with four creamy white petals, produced in clusters diameter, and are insect pollinated. The fruit is a globose black berry diameter, containing a single seed. The berries are sometimes called "dogberries". Ecology It prefers moderate warmth in sunny places, though it can tolerate shade and in the more southern areas of its distribution area grows in the mountains. In cooler areas such as Scandinavia it grows at se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ligustrum Vulgare
''Ligustrum vulgare'' (wild privet, also sometimes known as common privet or European privet) is a species of ''Ligustrum'' native to central and southern Europe, north Africa and southwestern Asia, from Ireland and southwestern Sweden south to Morocco, and east to Poland and northwestern Iran.Flora Europaea''Ligustrum vulgare''/ref>Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). ''Flora of Britain and Northern Europe''. Bean, W. J. (1978). ''Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles'' vol. 2: 576–577. . Description It is a semi-evergreen or deciduous shrub, growing to 3 m (rarely up to 5 m) tall. The stems are stiff, erect, with grey-brown bark spotted with small brown lenticels. The leaves are borne in decussate opposite pairs, sub-shiny green, narrow oval to lanceolate, 2–6 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm broad. The flowers are produced in mid-summer in panicles 3–6 cm long, each flower creamy-white, with a tubular base and a four-lobed corolla ('petals') 4–6 mm diameter. The flowe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple stems and shorter height, less than tall. Small shrubs, less than 2 m (6.6 ft) tall are sometimes termed as subshrubs. Many botanical groups have species that are shrubs, and others that are trees and herbaceous plants instead. Some definitions state that a shrub is less than and a tree is over 6 m. Others use as the cut-off point for classification. Many species of tree may not reach this mature height because of hostile less than ideal growing conditions, and resemble a shrub-sized plant. However, such species have the potential to grow taller under the ideal growing conditions for that plant. In terms of longevity, most shrubs fit in a class between perennials and trees; some may only last about five y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildlife And Countryside Act 1981
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species (especially those at threat), controls the release of non-native species, enhances the protection of Sites of Special Scientific Interest and builds upon the rights of way rules in the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The Act is split into 4 parts covering 74 sections; it also includes 17 schedules. The legislation has strength; few amendments have been made to it, and it has acted as a foundation for later legislation to build upon. The compulsory 5 year review of schedules 5 and 8 make it dynamic in terms of the species which it protects. History Wild Birds Protection Act 1902 The Wild Birds Protection Act 1902 ( 2 Edw 7 c. 6) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, given the royal assent on 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Parks And Access To The Countryside Act 1949
The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the National Parks Commission which later became the Countryside Commission and then the Countryside Agency, which became Natural England when it merged with English Nature in 2006. The Act provided the framework for the creation of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wales, and also addressed public rights of way and access to open land. The Act was passed in 1949 with all-party support, as part of the reconstruction of the UK by the Labour government after World War II. The Act followed reports by: *a Government committee chaired by Christopher Addison (later Viscount Addison) in 1931, * John Dower, secretary of the Standing Committee on National Parks, to the Minister of Town and Country Planning in 1945, and *a Government committee chaired by Sir Arthur Hobhouse in 1947, which proposed 12 national parks. The first 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
